If it isn’t broken – break it, if it is broken – ask somebody how to fix it

Yesterday I saw this video from 2006 of a lecture by Seth Godin (for better quality see here). It is a fascinating and highly entreating talk. In it, Godin describes how so many things are “broken”, and by “broken” he means just stupid, non-cooperative with the client or non efficient.

I don’t know about you, but the feeling he describes is something that I feel almost every day. You see something and you ask yourself – why is that? Why can’t they make it simpler? Or easier to use? Or just plain efficient? Now, you can cast doubt if all the examples are really “broken”. That is what the commenter’s on the Boing-Boing blog do. But I think doing that is missing the point.

I think two of the main points are:

1. “It is not my job” – Godin claims that many things are broken because the people who can fix it, say: “it is not my job”. I think this thinking is so common we don’t even notice it anymore. When we encounter it, it frustrates us, but it seems reasonable to us. We say to ourselves: “what can we do? It is probably not his job”. Why?

Ask yourself. If you think about a way to change something, to make it better, what do you do? Do you go to your manager? Do you put it in a suggestion box? Or do you just give up and say to yourself: “well, nobody is going to listen to me anyway”.

Now, wear the other hat. When is the last time you went to your employees or team members and asked them – “what would you change?”. These are the people who usually say “it is not my job”. They usually know already what is broken and how to change it. Go and ask them.

Some places are already doing that. Check out “My Starbuck Idea“. Think about all the sites that allow anybody to write an applet. “Hey, this site should allow you to do this. Maybe I will just write an applet for that” or “hey, I should be able to do this with my IPhone, I can write an applet for that”.

2. “Broken on purpose” – this is a point Godin makes all the time, especially in his book “purple cow“. In order for something to succussed, it needs to be remarkable, meaning that people will make a remark about that. You create it by creating an exceptional product, or you just make it plain different. Maybe it is time to break your product?

Elad

The color of a cow and the number of legs of a cat

Photo by Robyn Gallagher

Are you a three leeged purple manager?

Look at the picture. It is a cat. like many other cats. So, why was it pictured? Mind you, people take photos of their cat (or pets in general). But this a street cat, like many others. So, why did somebody felt the urge to take this photo? If you read the explanation, you discover that it was photographed because it only had three legs but could still move in great speed. in other words, it was remarkable.

I am a keen believer in many of the ideas of Seth Godin. One of them, which he writes about a lot, is that businesses need to be remarkable. He wrote a book called the purple cow. The idea is simple. If you drive in the country you see a lot of cows. You don’t even notice them. Cows are boring. But, what would happen if there was a purple cow on the side of the road. Than you would stop, you would take pictures and most importantly, you would tell your friends. Because if it is remarkable, we want to remark about it.

Today I read two stories about restaurants that use this idea in a different way. One, in Freakonomics, is about oneworldcafe, where you pay the amount you want for a dish which size is determined by you. The concept is not only remarkable, but it applies to another important human trait – we want to feel that we are treated fairly. If we feel that way, we are willing to pay more (in actual money or other valuables – time, labour etc.).

Second, in Jon Gordon’s blog, you can read a story about restaurants that give Gordon “whatever he wants“. If someone goes the extra mile for us, to the point that we feel he is doing us a sort of a favour, we feel in debt, and we are willing to pay more.

Lower costs is not the only strategy. Remarkable service is always better.

What does all of this say about our managing style. which managers do you remember? The regular ones or the ones that did remarkable things, including, matching your tasks to your abilities and asking you – what do you need in order to excel…?

So, as yourself – are you a three leeged purple manager?

Elad

Remarkable? Depressing. Stay positive!

Today, I saw this lecture by Seth Godin. Now doubt, it is worth you’re 20 minutes.

 A few after thoughts:

1. I don’t argue with what Seth is saying, but even he has to admit that it is, after all, a little depressing. If very good is very bad, because the only way to create something valuable is to be remarkable, it sets a very high standard. Now I understand better, why when I got 98 in a test my father always asked me two questions: (a) Why did you lose 2 points? (b) How much did the other people in the class got? Seth talks about business but he says that this is true to many other areas in life. Again, that is a depressing thought. Honestly, how many things have you done in your life you can say are remarkable? I know that I haven’t than many. But the important thing is how do you feel about the remarkable things you did do… still there is optimism hidden somewhere.

2. A few days ago I wrote here about a post by Seth regarding PowerPoint presentations and how to make them remarkable. One of his points was that a presentation should not be more than 10 minutes long. I did not agree with it, Lisa Braithwaite of speak schmeak even wrote a post about it explaining why in her eyes, you should not put a time limit on presentations. In this lecture, Seth shows why this rule can not even be considered a guide line. His lecture is more than twice his recommended time. It is still quite remarkable.

3. This lecture shows us once again, that preparation, passion, originality and humor are more important to a presentation than good design or other exaggerated pyrotechnics.

 Elad